Who Will The L.A. Kings Recall From Manchester?

In honor of all the pugilism this weekend, Oh! Dustin Penner is down! 1…2…3…4…we’ll check on him later.

Meanwhile, we have a hole in our top 6 or, depending on your perspective, top 9. That rascal Terry Murray is rascally enough to plug in Kevin Westgarth but I don’t think he’s that sozzled with the 3 goal victory.

So, who?

The Manchester Monarchs left wing pickings are slim in Clune, K.O. Kaunisto, King (Surly just gagged), and Meckler.

Brandon Kozun, anyone? “He’s a right wing, Scribe.” Shut up. He can play left.

How about Andrei Loktionov? “He’s a center, Scribe.” Jesus. You would think our coach doesn’t know how to shuffle lines. Another center, Marc-Andre Cliche, leads the Monarchs in goals.

Here is my vote.

If you must keep the Gagne-Kopitar-Williams line together (I still long for Gagne-Richards-Williams), then the second line should be Stoll-Richards-Brown. “Wait, wait, wait, you want Stoll as a wing?” Yes. I think Stoll and Brown complement each other rather nicely and there is nothing wrong with having two natural centers in the top 6. Stoll has a hard and fast one timer and can skate. Mike Richards is a hell of a play maker and I see him feeding Jarret some tape to tape passes that Stoll will send high and wide. I kid Jarret. He’ll hit the net. He’s due and I want to get him a spark and on the goal scoring track. Dustin Brown gets his captain laced butt to the net.

I am not holding my breath. I don’t see Terry Murray doing this. I wish he would.

The third line (since I will never have my line of Clifford-Loktionov-Kozun) will be Clifford-Loktionov-Richardson. “So, Loktionov gets the call up!” Correct. Notice, again, two players that can play center. I put a lot of stock on faceoff victories.

The fourth line has many round holes for the round peg.

Nutty? Perhaps a little. However, the top 6 must have skill and speed with an emphasis on players who work well with their linemates. Our biggest handicap is scoring goals. That is why a top 6 exists. That is what my top 6 is designed to do, while it maintains the necessary edge and toughness.

Now that fantasy time is over, what do you think the LA Kings will do?

I disagree with Lokti on the top left wing, but I’m well aware of the reasoning behind it. I’d rather have little Richie there for a small stint till Parse, or Penner come back.

Honestly I’d be surprised if the Kings called Lokti up at all (or anyone else for that matter), and if the Kings were going to move any players out of position from Manchester, Kozun, and Cliche are having decent seasons with Manchester right now.

Lokti has durability issues, and the Kings will keep him in Manch as long as possible to see some consistancy. I’m not claiming I’m right, just what I think they’d do (if they call anyone up).

Also I wish for a former Philly line, but TM is purposely ignoring it any possible chemistry that might come from that combination.

I agree that Loktionov should be the one to be called up, because he can bring some real offensive touch. I feel like he hasn’t been over-exposed to Terry Murray’s “don’t score at all costs” system just yet.

However, I never really liked the idea of moving unquestionably your best faceoff man to wing. In my eyes Stoll’s only remotely redeeming characteristic this season, has been that he hasn’t been out of position defensively, and that’s been because he’s playing the center position, a position reserved for players that are defensively responsible, and are encouraged to be the first forward back on the opposition’s rush.

Stoll looks like he couldn’t hit the broad side of China with his shot, so I don’t know what kind of offensive prowess he would lend to the second line, while sacrificing his top-notch faceoff skills, and taking him out of a position where he can be our stopper center.

Shut up dude. Everything you said are just more nonsense that everyone else is saying.
Murray says don’t score at all costs, Stoll can’t hit that side of a barn. Just keep repeating all the stupid stuff that everyone else says that isn’t remotely true. Get a brain and a life.

Damn it Robin, I’m.just so sick of it man. Same stupid stuff over and over and over again.
How can you say Stoll doesn’t hit the net. I watch the games. Yes the fuck he does. Even if you think he doesn’t shut the fuck up about it and quit making stupid analogies. Its not funny!
Then Murray and his system of. “dont score”. Not funny anymore, errrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!!!!!
Scribe said it now all these idiots are running with it. Shut up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah dude, glad to be back reading your blogs and talking shit. Emerged from my cave, now as a new vermin. Couldn’t stand the Murray shit talking for a while but whatever glad to let it be and read your blogs and talk more shit. Thanks.

I see you haven’t lost your touch. Do stay on topic though. Throw in a little puck talk between the tirades. That is when you are at your most effective. And Nick is a pretty knowledgable dude. Stoll is struggling. That 3rd line center role everyone thought would fit him like a ribbed condom really hasn’t…and it’s all Murray’s fault ;)

Everybody click on this homos name. Notice the picture and his talk of penises and tampons and connect the dots. He’s not Kings fan. He.went to a what he thought was a Disney on ice production accidentally wandered into a Kings game, noticed the sweaty men, and is now a sweaty men fan not a Kings fan.

Because everybody is always saying Stoll can’t hit the net I made it a point to watch him and he was doing just fine. He’s probably a casualty of a forward playing D on the PP but he hits the net just as much as Brown or Gagne or Frolic did. Did you notice him on the shootouts. Pretty damn accurate. Post a link to your fancy stats. Don’t care about them anyway. Stoll I’d good on the PP in my opinion.

He is struggling but that is partly because the same opps are not there. Jarret has a great shot, IMO the best one timer on the team (better than JJ). That is why I want to see him around more talent. Watching his game for a few years now, I think he and Richards will click.

If being a homo is fucking women, drinking beer, and knowing what the fuck I’m talking about then yea you got me.

I see you need to start internet fights because you probably have a small dick, and got your ass beat a lot in school. Make fun of my picture over the internet all you want, your always going to be THAT guy.

“Stoll looks like he couldn’t hit the broad side of China with his shot

… Well, apologies in advance for interjecting some analysis into this discussion, but all hyperbole aside I think there’s some truth to this so far in the season.

Stoll has 33 shots on goal and 19 missed shots so far this season. That means he’s hitting the net roughly 64% of the time when he doesn’t get his shot blocked. Stoll has just one goal on 33 shots, which is a shooting percentage of just 3%. These are four-year lows for him.

2008-09 … Hit the net 67.7% of the time, shooting pct. of 11.6%

2009-10 … Hit the net 71.0% of the time, shooting pct. of 9.8%

2010-11 … Hit the net 71.9% of the time, shooting pct. of 10.7%

2011-12 … Hit the net 63.5% of the time, shooting pct. of 3.0%

Is Jarret not getting the great passes that led to easy goals in the past? Is he trying to be too fine with his shots? Does he have an injury he’s not revealing? Or, is it just early, and we can expect the percentages to go up?

Loktionov should be the one called up, it shouldn’t even be a question. Don’t really care where he plays either. If he is here for any reasonable length of time, he’ll get shifted all over the place anyways, so whether he plays center or wing or whatever is inconsequential at this point, just get the kid here already.

Since we need to start pinching pennies to get Parise, how about we save on bus fair—
Someone casually rip a shot at practice at Martinez’s hand, and we have Loki and Voynov car pool together. it’s win win. At the very least it could be an awesome Hope/Crosby (that’s Bing, not Sid, folks) style road movie.

I don’t know why we couldn’t call up our best prospect (Lokti) and let him play 3rd line center. We’ve got at least 3 centers who are versatile enough to play other positions effectively (Stoll, Richie, Lewie, Richards) to varying degrees.

I’d probably just move Stoll to 2nd or 3rd line wing, maybe let him take important face offs. Let the 4th line be grinders instead of infecting half our offensive lineup with offensively ineffective grinders. just my imo.

Bring Loktionov up and play him at center. They can play him on wing but it seems like he really shines at that center position so why fight it? With Pens on IR I’d say keep on playing Richie on wing with Richards and Brown. The guy’s due. He shoulda scored on that one feed from Richards. Wide open net. His time will come hopefully sooner than later. If anything he’s fast and gritty and if he can score great but I really like him on the forecheck and creating opportunities for the other two.

Fraser’s not looking that bad. He’s got some feist to him that I like and he’s not afraid to get his hands dirty. Move Lewis to wing and have Lokti center with Fraser.

As for that Staubitz guy, Fox called out what looked like an attempted cheap shot to Kopi’s head on that check. It looked like it but it coulda been him trying to regain some balance after the check. Stoked that Gagne took him down but too bad he didn’t get in two or three good punches to the face before the refs jumped in. No one takes a cheap shot to Kopi’s head along the boards and not get jumped.

Yeah, would have loved to see the guy get up with some blood on his face but way to stick up for a teammate none-the-less. It’d be nice if the whole team was in on that mentality. I feel like they were last year.

I agree with the Fraser comment as well. Way to be a man and not take the whole Edmonton Douche-baggery thing personally.

Williams had some words for him as he was on his back but I don’t know if he woulda dropped the gloves. I think Greene was itching to go a coupla rounds though. I think Brown woulda stepped in and said something to him but I can’t remember the last time Brownie dropped the gloves with someone. Of all people I think Pens woulda pummeled him.

… In other news, since the Blues have hired Ken Hitchcock, they have won two games, tied one (lost the shootout), outscored their opposition 8-2, outshot their opposition 84-70, and have allowed exactly zero 5-on-5 goals in three games.

Jeez. That puffy faced asshole’s still got it. Interesting to see if this continues and helps prove that the theory of systems taking a while to be put in place and work is bullcrap. Like when Mitchell said the other day that the Kings are struggling because of a few minor changes made to the system in camp. Sure, changes take time to get rooted down, but our system requires perfection of execution, while a good system accounts for missteps in execution. I’ll have to remember to watch the next Blue’s telecast to see what they are doing differently (beside being scared shitless by that Ogre).

Regarding Stoll, I’ve always liked the guy. People have hated on him years past for this and that.

Regarding JT Dutch’s post, I think the facts show he hasn’t done much in the offensive dept. this year. The easy thing to blame is him on the third line as opposed to the second. And there may be some proof to that.

But I don’t know how much credence can be given to that because as we all know, Moreau is as good as they get. Awesome shot, amazing self-control, great awareness…. just look at his point totals. And Clifford… MAN… has he improved or what?!?!

I don’t know what to contribute it to to be honest, and while I do think the third line playing time has something to do with it and who he is paired up with, it’s not like the goalie plays the third line that much different than the other two lines (meaning he doesn’t go to butterfly for one line and regular for the others).

One thing we can count on are his face-offs. Doing his best Michael J. Fox impersonation, he can dominate the circle when he is on his game. I like the guy; maybe his lack of production is because he looks better with better players and comes down to earth with less talent.

I don’t know. Neither do you. So shut the fuck up and have a wonderful, happy day.

I think Stoll and Richardson should be glued together. They both played some of their best hockey as Kings when they were on a line with Brown. In fact, I want Kozun to get ready for top 6 duty stat so that we can have a Richie-Stoll-Brown 3rd line.

So with Pens in IR that’s a minimum of 7 days? Within that time frame the team is potentially 4 games with Loktionov. So here’s the scenario, Loktionov is being put at wing (I’d say keep him a center but whatever) and he’s lightin shit up. Puts up 3-5 goals and gets an assist per game.

When Pens gets off IR does management now send Loktionov back down so Pens can come back into his regular slot and keep on sucking more ass or sit Pens and keep Loktionov? If we keep Loktionov that might be 1 too many guys on the active roster. Does anyone know how this would work if Loktionov lights shit up and they want to keep him up here?

Using the “lights shit up” as the premise, no way is he sent down. The team needs offense too badly that even TM can’t stop talking about it. He will remain on the light shittin’ line and Penner will go to the third line where he was a short time ago. Then, it will be a question of whether Lokti can remain consistent, not necessarily shit lightin’ but offensively productive.